Printing & Scanning prices

Bacchus

I'm sure this goes for a lot of office supply / printing shops but I've had a personal experience today of KK Print in Athlone. I needed to get my Masters and PhD certificates scanned (not photocopied) today. I cannot do this on my a4 scanner so I went to KK Print (a branch of printing.com) to do this.

They had to photocopy from a3 -> a4 before scanning to my USB drive which I was fine with. It took about 15 minutes in all to photocopy and then scan the 2 certificates. When I went to pay I was told it was €10. I was shocked and asked for a breakdown of the costs.

€2 for photocopying the two pages
€8 "service charge" for scanning those two pages onto my USB drive!

I was fine with the photocopy charges but not at all happy that I was being charged €8 for the scans. I argued with the staff member that this was a crazy price for what, in my opinion, costs the company nothing. No materials were used, they simply slapped on an €8 service charge with no mention of the charge either verbally or displayed anywhere in the shop. I will put my hands up that I slipped up by not confirming the total at the beginning but I was expecting €4, €5 max and at no point was a service charge mentioned until I had to pay. In the end I allowed him to delete the scans from my USB drive and paid the €2 for the a4 photocopies. I went home and made the scans myself in about 5 minutes.

That's my little rant over. I can't believe that these companies can get away with charging so much. I feel real pity for anyone out there with no access to a scanner that may need documents scanned for employment opportunities, education applications etc. It's a real disadvantage to these people to have to pay such ridiculous service charges for such a simple task.

Btw, the staff member's excuse for the charge "Sure everyone else charges the same". Rip off Ireland. Alive and well.

maxer68

Hope you didn't study business!

15/20 minutes of staff time @ €12 wages per hour + emplyor prsi.

Machine to reduce and scan your docs, machine to transfer to usb.

Rent of the store, commercial rates - some of which goes towards student grants.

€10 is a fair price considering all the costs the business has to bear to enable you walk in and do what you did.

€4 / €5, would barely cover the employees wages for the time it took.

Bacchus

maxer68 wrote: »

Hope you didn't study business!

Right back at you mate. You seem to have missed the point that an a4 colour photocopy (requires ink and paper) cost €1 while a digital scan (essentially the same task but no materials used) cost €4. What does business studies say about that?

D

Hmm I recently got 2 A4 scans and 2 A3 scans done. total cost 80 cent. Finglas, Dublin.

Pacing Mule

Bacchus wrote: »

Right back at you mate. You seem to have missed the point that an a4 colour photocopy (requires ink and paper) cost €1 while a digital scan (essentially the same task but no materials used) cost €4. What does business studies say about that?

Business studies says to me that you got a cheap colour photocopy versus the costs of providing same.

maxer68

Bacchus wrote: »

Right back at you mate. You seem to have missed the point that an a4 colour photocopy (requires ink and paper) cost €1 while a digital scan (essentially the same task but no materials used) cost €4. What does business studies say about that?

Not sure about Athlone, but in most stores I know, staff get paid for their time. - And I'm sure you will want to get paid when you get a job.

Forensically look at it this way

€10 = 8.26 + vat

Staff cost = average €12 per hour including prsi costs. @ 20 minutes = €4.

Shop is left with 4.26 to contribute to fairly decent machines, rent, rate & utilities.

Rent / Rates, probably about €700 a week or €116 a day
Machine cost - probably about €3,000 and replaced every 3 years
Ink cost average 10% paper coverage for laser = about 25c (HP figures)


Come on - This simply is not a rip off and a fair price IMO.

tricky D

You could have scanned the top and bottom of the docs yourself and stitched them together and resized in a free graphics package for nothing.

Bacchus

Pageant Messiah wrote: »

Business studies says to me that you got a cheap colour photocopy versus the costs of providing same.

Incorrect. In fairness to KK Print, the quality of the colour photocopy was excellent and worth the €1 per page that they charge.

maxer68 wrote: »

Not sure about Athlone, but in most stores I know, staff get paid for their time. - And I'm sure you will want to get paid when you get a job.

<snip>Another condescending lecture on how businesses operate. I am a customer, I look for value for money.</snip>

Come on - This simply is not a rip off and a fair price IMO.

Come on yourself. You continue to ignore the fact that this company will charge €1 for a colour photocopy. The same company then charges 4 times that for a digital copy. Both tasks require the same staff time so I ask again, how can a digital scan cost 4 times more? Don't give me the staff, rates and rents lecture again either, if that was the case, why does the colour photocopy not cost €4 or more per page?

And just to be clear (maybe this is where your confusion is coming from). I asked for the breakdown of the costs and it was made clear to me by the staff member that the photocopies were €2 and the scans were €8.

tricky D wrote: »

You could have scanned the top and bottom of the docs yourself and stitched them together and resized in a free graphics package for nothing.

I could have, but (more fool me) I thought I'd save myself the hassle and get someone with an a3 scanner to do it (they only had an a3 photocopier, hence splitting to process into two stage).

Bacchus

maxer68 wrote: »

Staff cost = average €12 per hour including prsi costs. @ 20 minutes = €4.

Actually, just on this one point to clear up ambiguity. I was there for 15 minutes. 5 minutes of which were spent on the photocopies (the ones I paid €2 for). It was 10 minutes before I got the scans but the scans were done by another staff member out of my sight so I do not actually know how long it took him/her. What I do know is that when the staff member I was dealing went back to get them, they were ready and waiting for him. I did those scans myself in less than 5 minutes at home and I cannot imagine that a professional office supply shop would take any longer.

maxer68 wrote: »

Machine cost - probably about €3,000 and replaced every 3 years
Ink cost average 10% paper coverage for laser = about 25c (HP figures)

€3000? For a scanner, I'm not talking about the photocopier here mind you (I've no problem with what they charged me for the photocopies)? A decent office scanner will cost you around €100.
What ink? It was a digital scan. Again, I am distinguishing between the photocopy which I was happy to pay for, not the scan that cost €4.

Pacing Mule

Bacchus wrote: »

Incorrect. In fairness to KK Print, the quality of the colour photocopy was excellent and worth the €1 per page that they charge.

You've misunderstood my post. I meant cheap as in the cost price of the goods that you were given, not cheap as in cheap quality. My point is actually reinforced by the fact the photocopy quality was excellent. IMO it should have cost more.

Bacchus

Pageant Messiah wrote: »

You've misunderstood my post. I meant cheap as in the cost price of the goods that you were given, not cheap as in cheap quality. My point is actually reinforced by the fact the photocopy quality was excellent. IMO it should have cost more.

Sorry, I did misread your post. Fair enough. Regardless, I've said from the start that i was ok with the photocopy charge. I think €1 per page is a fairly average price and I've no complaint with that. I even said as such to the staff member. It's the €4 per scan that I felt was way over priced.

PhatPiggins

Bacchus wrote: »

Right back at you mate. You seem to have missed the point that an a4 colour photocopy (requires ink and paper) cost €1 while a digital scan (essentially the same task but no materials used) cost €4. What does business studies say about that?

It says all businesses should aim to maximise their profits and cutomers should have the sense to ask how much a good/service costs before entering into an agreement.

allthedoyles

Unfortunately , Bacchus , you ain't going to get any sympathy on this forum .

You will be advised that you should always read the small print before you enter into any purchasing contract , and then make your decision accordingly .

The terms and conditions are what dictate all contracts - right ?

Remember you live in the a country well known nowadays for been the mother of all rip-offs .

Mother Ireland has been breeding a capitalist society for a generation now .

Businesses operate with only target ...........profit .

But it may be suggested to you that the service provided in Athlone , should cost you more than it would cost in Dublin , as Athlone has a smaller population , therefore Athlone needs to sell more to make the same profit as the same business in Dublin .

Remember the motto in this Republic is :
maximise profits - maximise profits -maximise profits - maximise profits -maximise profits - maximise profits -maximise profits - maximise profits -maximise profits - maximise profits .

skimpydoo

Bacchus wrote: »

€3000? For a scanner, I'm not talking about the photocopier here mind you (I've no problem with what they charged me for the photocopies)? A decent office scanner will cost you around €100.

Yes €100 will get you a decent office scanner but you are talking about printing company and they will only use top of the range equipment. I do know top of the range photocopiers can cost between €100k to €500k+ so €3000 for a scanner is very believable. For them to use a €100 scanner is akin to them using a €2000 photocopier and would you be happy if they did?.

Fair enough you paid a high price but in these times before you get anything done get a quote. I am sure you will next time.

davo10

allthedoyles wrote: »

Businesses operate with only target ...........profit .


Remember the motto in this Republic is :
maximise profits - maximise profits -maximise profits - maximise profits -maximise profits - maximise profits -maximise profits - maximise profits -maximise profits - maximise profits .

Allthedoyles have you had a chance to read that book recommended to you by Whippet on another thread you started?. If you have not please allow me to enlighten you about something, all businesses without exception operate with this motto, not just in the Republic but worldwide, if they do not, they have no reason to be in business.

maxer68

...and for those not running a business, maximising profit is not about charging extra.

In my business, I will maximise my profits this year by selling into the UK, by offering lower prices than my competitors and ensuring that the service customers are offered is way and beyond anything any other business offers them and keep them coming back to me again and again even if my ocation is off main.

I will post profits well into 6 figures, I'll have added at least 8 new staff and I will frighten the sh1te out of some UK competitors when I launch there in October. - I can't wait for that!

davo10

Now that's good business, I think allthedoyles thinks you should have a philanthropic outlook to the way you run it.